DAY TWO 3:57AM

The Ravers


Max followed the instructions that had been given to him by the young waitress from Kelly's Diner. He walked down an alleyway and approached a red door with a squiggly S type symbol spray-painted on it. 

As he approached the door he could hear the sound of techno music emanating from behind it. Maybe a good rave would tire him out, and he might fall asleep in the morning. He rapped hard, and was surprised to see that a slot opened after the first knock. 

"Private function," the doorman announced from behind the slot. Max could see his eyes and hear the beat of the music. The music seemed to be beckoning him. 

Max fished a blank business card out of his pocket and held it up toward the peep-slot. That's when a blacklight shined from above and the card glowed like a enchanted item. 

"Alice sent me here," Max told him. And it was true; the waitress had approached him and handed him the card and told him what to do. 

The peep-slot closed and then the door opened. The bouncer, a huge man, signaled Max to come in. The trance music was blaring loud. He stepped through the door. 

He noticed several speakers all hooked up close to the door, and the music playing promised that this night would be a good one. 

Max was tired and he didn't want to do this, but the waitress had approached him and told him that she had been watching him the past couple of days and that this might be good for his soul. 

And who was Max to turn down an offer like that. 

He followed the corridor down; behind him the music was fading. And that was odd indeed, instead of getting louder. He reached underneath his jacket to unholster "Pain" & "Joy" - he never left home without them; this had all the markings of a trap. Was the waitress a baiter? Damn, he was too tired to see it unfolding right in front of him. 

He was greeted at the end of the hallway by a girl. She seemed to be in her late teens. "Welcome," she said. "Hank signaled us that someone was coming. I'm Mayganne." 

Max's bloodshot eyes looked her over cautiously. He was tired and was thinking of just getting the hell out of Dodge while the getting was good. 

"Alice sent you so you must be one of us," Mayganne said. She pointed her thumb behind her. "I trust her instincts. She has a knack of finding people like us, that's why we like to call her Mother." 

Mayganne turned and went through the iron door. Max followed, still on the cautionary approach. His mind fatigued with exhaustion, but curious enough to find out what all this was about before pulling out the girls and letting them sing their song. 

They were in a huge room, with over two dozen people standing about; on a platform a man in a priest's outfit stood behind a couple of turntables and speakers, but he was speaking out loud without a microphone. 

"... say no this is not Hell or a version of it," he said. " I do feel that we are alive and well, and that what happens is a result of higher order. We are not simply dead and the devil just toying with us..." 

"Then what is happening?" a young lad interrupted the Reverend. "Why do we notice things that others don't?"  

"I don't have all the answers," the priest stated. "It seems that there is something going on and that we all have noticed these changes while others continue to live their lives as these changes occur and are not realizing it - it's like we're shifting when realities merge..."